Quick & Easy Christmas Baking - Some Retro Favourites

Georgina Campbell

Even if you’re very pressed for time coming up to Christmas, cooking a few bits and pieces is very satisfying, gets you into the festive mood - and it makes the house smell lovely too. And it needn’t take a huge amount of time either, as these tried and trusted recipes show – they’re all from that old favourite, my 1996 book The Best of Irish Breads & Baking, which is still in print (€15) and I use it all the time.

Nothing could be simpler than my easy all-in-one Quick Christmas Cake, it’s my fall-back any time a fruit cake is needed in a hurry and appears with variations all year round. Try it once and you’ll be converted.

To make it really special upgrade the ingredients to include top-of-the-range fruits – muscatel raisins for example, and whole glace fruit – from speciality food shops like Peter & Mary Ward’s Country Choice (Nenagh; also at Limerick Milk Market). And, by the way, quality glacé fruit like theirs makes great petits fours, either served simply or with the slices/slivers dipped in melted chocolate...

Mincemeat is not only for Christmas, it’s a finger-licking’ good ingredient for a myriad of winter bakes and puddings, so keep a jar handy to enjoy throughout the colder months. It’s very quick to make, involves no cooking, is ready to use in a fortnight or less and can easily be dressed up in jars with pretty tops on to include in a DIY hamper, or take along as a party present.

This spicy Mincemeat with Irish Whiskey is not too sweet and has a good tang. It will sometimes keep perfectly for a year, but mincemeat is really a short-term preserve - if you want to keep it longer than two or three months, freeze it.

Makes about 8 lb/3.6 Kg.

3 lb/1.4 kg mixed dried fruit (best quality): sultanas, raisins, currants
8 oz/225g mixed peel, (preferably use whole peel, chopped)
4 oz/100g glace cherries, chopped (optional)
1 lb/450g dark muscovado sugar
1 lb/450g cooking apples, eg Bramleys, peeled and finely chopped
8 oz/225g finely chopped suet, or vegetable suet
4 oz/100g almonds, blanched and slivered
11/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp each ground cinnamon and cloves
Finely grated rind and juice of 2 juicy lemons (washed)
8 fl oz/225 ml Irish whiskey.

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a cool place for 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Mix well again before packing into clean, dry jars - preferably screw-top so that jars can be inverted occasionally to distribute the juices evenly. Seal and store in a cool dark place for about 2 weeks before use, inverting the jars from time to time if they are securely sealed. Any mincemeat left after Christmas will keep better if a little extra whiskey is added to the top of each jar.

Mincemeat Tarts with Streusel Topping are lighter than traditional mince pies and very attractive. Use quick Magimix Pastry (below) or One-Stage Fork Pastry (another from a range of easy pastries given in The Best of Irish Breads & Baking), both make a smooth sweetened pastry which is easy to handle and cooks to a light, crisp golden-brown. Egg whites left over from the Magimix pastry can be used to make icing, or meringues, or the mini macaroons given below.

Makes 24

1 quantity sweet short pastry (see below)
About l lb/450g mincemeat
Streusel Topping:
1 oz/25g plain flour
2 oz/50g light muscavado sugar
1 oz/50g butter.
Icing sugar to decorate.

First make up a batch of this simple Magimix sweet pastry: sift 12 oz/350g flour and a pinch of salt into the bowl of a food processor, add 8 oz/225g cubed butter and process for about 15 seconds until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

Add 3 egg yolks and 3 oz/75g caster or icing sugar and process for another 20 seconds or until the pastry clings together and forms a ball. Knead lightly to form a smooth dough; wrap the ball in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes before use. (Keeps for several days in the fridge and freezes well.)

While the pastry is resting, prepare the streusel topping by rubbing the butter into the flour and sugar to form a crumb-like texture. Set aside.

Preheat a hot oven, 425'F/220'C/ Gas mark 7.

Roll out the pastry to about 1/8" / 0.3 cm thick. Stamp out 24 bases, using a 31/2"/8.9 cm round fluted cutter. Use these to line the bases of 24 bun tins, then place about a teaspoonful of mincemeat in each one - be careful not to overfill, especially if the mincemeat is very juicy. (Any leftover pastry can be re-used; freeze if necessary.)

Sprinkle with the streusel mixture and bake immediately in a preheated for about 20 minutes, or until the pastry is a light golden-brown and the streusel is nice and crunchy. Using a round-bladed knife, ease the tarts from the tins and onto a rack. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with chilled whipped cream, or rum or brandy butter.

For an attractive alternative to individual mince pies, try this Mincemeat Lattice Pie - and not just for Christmas, it could be ideal in the New Year. With its zesty citrus flavoured filling it makes an excellent hot dessert, whether made with the almond pastry base given below, or the quick Magimix mix pastry given above.

If you’re in a hurry and have a lattice pastry cutter, use that for the topping instead of cutting the pastry strips by hand.

Serves 8-10.

Almond Pastry:

10 oz/275g plain flour
2 oz/50g ground almonds
6 oz/175g butter
3 oz/75g icing sugar
Finely grated zest of 1/2 washed lemon
Yolk of l large egg, lightly beaten
l coffee spoon (2.5ml) natural almond essence (or to taste)
3 tablespoons very cold water
l tablespoon lemon juice

Filling:

About l lb/450g home-made mincemeat
2 oz/50g ground almonds
Finely grated zest of 1/2 washed lemon
Lemon juice (see method, below)
l egg white, beaten lightly, to glaze
2 tablespoons Cointreau or Grand Marnier
Caster sugar to sprinkle over

First make the pastry: put the flour, ground almonds and roughly chopped butter into the bowl of a food processor and process for a few seconds until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and finely grated lemon zest.

Mix egg yolk, almond essence, chilled water and lemon juice. Add most of it and continue to process, until the mixture forms a ball around the centre of the chopping knife, adding the rest of the liquid if necessary.

Remove the pastry, wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least 10 minutes before rolling.

Meanwhile, preheat a fairly hot oven, 400'F/200'C/gas mark 6.

Mix together the mincemeat, ground almonds, grated lemon zest, whatever lemon juice remains from the pastry and the Cointreau or Grand Marnier. Put this mixture aside, while rolling out the pastry to line a 9"-10"/22-25 cm fluted flan ring or a tart tin with a removable base.

Re-roll the remaining pastry and cut into long thin strips. Spread the prepared mincemeat mixture over the base of the flan and arrange the strips of pastry in a lattice pattern on top.

Brush the pastry with lightly whisked egg white and sprinkle with a little caster sugar, then bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until the pastry is crisp and brown.

Served hot with chilled whipped cream (flavoured, perhaps, with a little orange flower water), or rum or brandy butter.

Christmas Biscuits

Not a bit like the sophisticated multi-coloured French paired ‘macarons’ which are all the rage at the moment, these simple old-fashioned Macaroons are easy to make and have lots of chewy texture as well as natural flavour. They can be made the usual medium size, to serve with tea or as an accompaniment to cold sweets or ices, or made smaller to use as petits fours. Intensify the flavouring by replacing the vanilla with almond essence and adding a dash of Amaretto liqueur if you like.
Makes about 2 dozen large size, or 4 dozen little petits fours:

Rice paper
4 oz/100g ground almonds
6 oz/175g caster sugar
2 egg whites
l tablespoon rice flour, cornflour or arrowroot
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Split almonds to decorate.

Line two large or three medium baking trays with rice paper.

Preheat a moderately hot oven, 375'F, 190'C, Gas mark 5.

Mix the almonds and sugar, then add the unbeaten egg whites and cream the mixture very thoroughly together with a wooden spoon. Add the rice flour (or cornflour, or arrowroot) and flavouring and mix well.

Either, fill the mixture into a forcing bag fitted with a 1/2"/1 cm plain nozzle and pipe into rounds about 2"/5 cm across. Or, alternatively, use a teaspoon to pile small mounds of the mixture onto the rice paper and spread out neatly.

Press a split almond or half a glacé cherry into the centre of each macaroon, then bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned, risen and slightly cracked. Cut the rice paper to fit around each macaroon and cool on a wire rack. When cold, store in an airtight tin.

These pretty seasonal Star Biscuits can be made in varying sizes, and with small star cut-outs in the larger sizes, and then decorated as suggested below. Like the macaroons, they make pretty little petits fours or, if attractively packed, a charming small gift.

4 oz/100g butter
4 oz/100g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
5 oz/150g plain flour
2 oz/50g ground almonds
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Preheat a moderate oven, 350'F/180'C/Gas mark 4. Select a number of star-shaped biscuit cutters (or other shapes) in various sizes.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale, then beat in the egg yolk and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. Mix the dry ingredients together and blend in to the creamed mixture to make a stiff dough.

Turn onto a floured worktop and knead lightly into shape, then roll out to about 1/4"/0.6 cm thickness and cut out shapes as you wish.

Place the biscuits on greased baking trays and bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the biscuits are a light golden brown.

Cool on wire racks. When cold, decorate with coloured glace cherries, nuts, silver balls or simply with a light sprinkling of icing sugar "snow".